Sleep
by HinoteTwintailCat
Summary: Ven is still alive after the fight with Master Xehanort, and wishes he wasn't. His Wind tries to comfort him.


DISCLAIMER: I own nothin except the name of the Keyblade. Characters belong to Nomura.

Warnings: Character death, mild violence, mild gore.

Written when I discovered the names of the BbS trio, long before we knew anything else about the game. If there are incongruincies in the plots, deal with it. This is OLD.

* * *

The wind whipped around the lone figure, snapping and biting at the air, nearly visible due to its strength. Blue eyes stared out at the barren field. Key-blades covered most of it. His own blade had been abandoned there. He'd never use it again after this. Not after watching helplessly as the man who had been his teacher had used the blade against his friends.

His hand shot over his heart as it clenched itself. That feeling had become a common occurrence. Every time he remembered his friend's blood staining his own blade, which rested in Master Xehanort's hand, every time he remembered that he'd never hear Terra's deep growl of a voice, or feel Aqua's tender touch on his arm, again.

He sighed sadly, slowly limping away from the field. Towards the bodies of his companions. He'd pulled them out of the rubble after he'd thawed from Xehanort's ice attack, Terra had been breathing at first, trying desperately to help him pull him out. But at some point, he'd stopped. He had tried desperately to wake his friend from death, tried everything he could think of before finally leaving to see if he could find Aqua.

He'd found her, lying in a pool of her own blood. Eyes still open, but rolled back into her head. Her pretty blue hair was plastered to her face with blood. He'd almost cried, almost lost his self-control right then and there. But he reigned himself in, just barely, but he managed it, and had half-picked up Aqua's corpse, a difficult feat with only one working arm. And he'd dragged her to where he'd left Terra.

Then he'd left again to toss his broken Key-blade as far into the wasteland as he could. He'd used his wind to send it farther than it would have gone normally.

And now he was back, staring at their bodies and wondering when everything had gone wrong.

His heart clenched itself again, and he hugged himself to the best of his ability. His left arm was shattered from the elbow down. Twisted in a way that had his hand facing backwards.  
It should have hurt. It should have had him on the ground and screaming with pain.

Instead, his whole body felt numb. He'd just watched his teacher kill his best… his only friends. Using his Key-blade, Kingdom Seal to do so.

The wind started to whip around him again, ruffling his blonde hair and his black and white clothes, his armor had been destroyed during the fight. Ruffling the clothes and hair of the otherwise still forms of his friends.  
The wind died down, and he heard a soft song within the blowing sand and howling moans as the wind trailed through the cliffs that had been formed during the fight.

It seemed to be telling him it was time for sleep. It sang of the wonders hidden within his dreams. The solitude of his own personal darkness.  
The wind promised to sing for him, like it always did when sleep didn't want to come.

But he didn't want to sleep. He wanted his friends back. He wanted them to laugh about the fight; pretend their Mentor's insanity had only been a training device. He wanted Terra to open his eyes, and he didn't want to see yellow. He wanted Aqua to wake up and tell him everything was alight.

He knew they wouldn't. But he wished for it anyways.  
The wind again told him it was time for slumber. Again, he refused to listen. He pushed the wind away from him, firmly informed it that he wouldn't sleep. He didn't deserve to rest.  
It persisted, singing its familiar lullaby in his ear. He growled and spun around; stalking in circles to try and convince the persistent element that he didn't need sleep.  
He was proven wrong when his element blew him over so he was lying between his friends. Immediately he wanted to cry. The wind was blowing down on him firmly. Sleep. It howled at him. Sleep and all will be right. Again it lightened up, singing its quiet lullaby in his ear. He found himself crying, sobbing like a child. Screaming at the sky, at the heart shaped moon that had appeared in the distance. Xehanort's creation. Xehanort's pride. Kingdom Hearts.

And then the lullaby started to take its toll on the male's psyche. It distracted him from his friends, from the pain of their loss. All that he knew was the wind's gentle caress. But he still tried to fight the sleep that threatened to claim his exhausted and battered form.  
The element that he normally used to his advantage was now trying to use him. Or at least control him enough to make him sleep.

He wouldn't sleep, he promised himself he wouldn't sleep. He tried to get to his feet; the wind became a gale and knocked him back down.  
Sleep, then you can mourn. The element cooed in his ear, he shook his head, ignoring the persistent element and trying again to get up. Once again getting knocked down, landing on his bad arm. The previously numb appendage suddenly regained feeling and sent wave upon wave of searing pain through him. The wind steadied itself, as if smug, thinking it had won as he screamed in pain.  
The pain slowly faded back into numbness, but it had firmly reminded him of his friends and their deaths.

It had reminded him of their life.

The three of them had been found huddled together outside of Master Xehanort's estate, shivering in the cold. The war that was going on, the Key-blade War, had taken their parents and friends and they'd wandered until bumping into each other and just curling up to cry. They'd become thieves as the years had gone on.  
That's what had led them to his estate. Running from the law that dared pursue them, looking for more food, more munny.  
They'd become well known, Terra was their appointed leader and he made sure that they lived up to their reputation.

It had been Aqua who noticed the man standing over them, staring at them with a grin as he invited them into his home. They'd accepted only hesitantly.  
It had been him to suggest that Xehanort feed them, and the man had obliged, surprising the trio.  
It had been Terra who'd requested to stay the night.  
It didn't surprise them when he said yes. What surprised them was his fallow up question.

He was looking for apprentices, a trio; a group who could work with him in ending the Key-blade War. They'd acquire Key-blades of their own if they had the hearts, and they could use them to avenge their losses, so long as they worked under him as well.  
They told him they'd sleep on it.  
Which they did.

The next morning they responded to his request in the affirmative, but on one condition.  
There was to be no separating them. They had to remain together no matter what.  
The condition was met easily; he had many underlings, not apprentices, just underlings, who could take care of the minor things, the solo and duo missions.  
The trio became closer and soon was acting as a unit, as if they all shared a brain. They had their own fighting styles, their own thoughts and opinions. But they moved as one unit, every movement in sync with at least one of the other two.

Xehanort was impressed, and began giving them more difficult missions. Missions that required more teamwork than anyone would have the patience for.  
They cleared each and every one. Sure, they were often pretty battered up, and there were multiple times when Terra had to carry one or both of them home, or they had to carry him. Which couldn't be done alone, he was too big.  
But they cleared them.

And the War was ending. All was good, they had a home, they had each other, and they couldn't be happier if they'd tried.

And then the Darkness had set in. It had quickly claimed their Mentor's sanity, left them to once again fend for themselves'. And before long, it began to attempt to claim Terra as well, he had almost fallen to it, and he wasn't about to let his friend lose the battle.

So they went after Xehanort.  
They found him in a backwater world that lacked a name. Well, that's what they had thought. They quickly realized during the fight that their elements responded more readily in this world than any of the others, the air was filled with the hum of the powers of Earth, Wind, and Water.  
It was their home world.  
And everything had been reduced to a barren wasteland.  
It filled them with rage and loss.  
So they fought.

They'd almost won the fight. Almost.  
But the Darkness gave their Master more power than he'd had before. And he defeated them, snatching his Key blade and killing Terra and Aqua before his eyes.  
He felt two parts of him die with them.

And now the wind was the only element left humming. Ven realized that the hum was fading though. Soon, he'd be joining his friends and the element would return to being just that. Elements, simple elements that made up the worlds.  
He managed a weak laugh, smiling weakly. That's what it had meant by 'sleep'.  
Eternal slumber. Peace, joining his friends once again.  
He could handle that. He laughed again, closing his eyes, feeling his energy fade as the sleep that had been threatening to claim him finally began to close in.  
Maybe… maybe death and sleep… maybe they weren't so scary after all.


End file.
